Epi.7-1: It’s a Stream from the Abandoned House

“Nice to meet you, I’m Yuka.”
It was her first stream in this new environment.
She was nervous, but the excitement outweighed it.

Sitting on the newly prepared sofa, she smiled and gave a small wave.
Beside her sat Misaki, her eyes hidden behind a fox mask.
Paying no attention to the stream, Misaki was simply drinking sake.

It was her first live stream — and she had nearly thirty viewers.
Since she had thought “Maybe no one will show up,” that number made her genuinely happy.
It was probably thanks to the name value of “the abandoned house in the forest.”
That was how Yuka convinced herself.

In the comment section, it looked like some viewers from her previous channel were there as well, and warm messages were flowing in.
Yuka leaned forward in delight — but then, another kind of comment appeared.

Comments such as “Isn’t this supposed to be the abandoned house?” and “Is this clickbait?” were questioning why the stream didn’t match the preview.

Yuka sat back more deeply, steadied her breathing, and said clearly:

“This is one of the rooms in the ‘abandoned house in the forest.’”

She showed a confident expression as if to say, How about that!
However — the reaction was cold.

Comments like “It looks way too clean,” “Why is there electricity?” and “Yuka-chan, come on…” made it clear that no one believed her.
Of course, Yuka had already expected that reaction.

“Honestly…”

She abruptly stood up, removed the streaming phone from the stand on the opposite side of the table, and brought it close to her face to show an extreme close-up.

“I was actually planning to show this after introducing the members, but it’d be a problem if people started leaving.
— I’ll give you just a little peek!”

With a beaming smile and a playful tone, she said that and opened the door to Misaki’s room, showing the hallway.

The hallway swallowed by darkness, and the area lit by the light spilling from the room was in ruins.
Yuka couldn’t see it herself, but something might have been caught on the camera.

Leaning toward the door, she also made sure to show the hallway on the opposite side.

Thinking that this should be enough, she set the camera back in place and sat down on the sofa.
In the comment section she had taken her eyes off for a moment, various reactions had appeared:
“Something moved,” “It’s just that kind of set,” “That was the real thing,” and many others.

“How was it? Did that convince you?”

She spoke with a smile.

Some viewers did seem convinced, but many still appeared to think it was a studio setup or some other kind of fake.
Judging from the volume of comments that the hook had worked, Yuka moved on to introducing the members.

“And this is Misaki-san. She lives in this room.”

A flood of surprised comments appeared, but she ignored them for the moment.

“To stream in this room, I have to tribute a whole isshōbin of sake every week, so everyone, please keep that in mind.”
“Hey, you!”
Misaki cut in, and a flood of comments appeared—many viewers were shocked simply because Misaki, who had been drinking in silence until then, had suddenly spoken.

“Ahahaha, it’s totally fine if you only say ‘amazing’ when you really, really feel it, okay?”

Seeing Yuka enjoying herself so much, Misaki closed her mouth.
Yuka—and the viewers—surely understood this mood better than she did.
If she stuck her nose in too much, she might ruin the atmosphere.
With that in mind, she simply stayed quiet and drank her sake.

“What’s that she’s holding?”
A single question appeared.

“You mean the one Misaki-san’s holding? It’s sake inside. She keeps it in a cooler bag so it won’t get warm.”
She answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, but the comment section flooded with nonstop surprise.

“Is that actually sake???”
“She’s been drinking nonstop, though?”
“There’s no way it’s not water.”
“That’s something you only see in Showa-era anime.”

It seemed that, more than the unreal hallway, the far more real threat of alcohol had struck a nerve.

“Misaki-san drinks the whole time she’s awake, so don’t worry about it.”

She brushed it off with a light “Ahaha.”
Comments were still pouring in, but she prioritized the introductions.
Misaki moved out of the frame, and Sayuri and Shinobu appeared in her place.

“There’s no way girls like these would be at a haunted spot,” “Total fake,” and other comments made it clear that their interest had already shifted elsewhere.

“Can you introduce yourselves?”
Yuka asked, leaning in toward the two.

“I’m Sayuri!”
She floated up lightly, crossing over the table and filling the camera view.
“Sayuri-chan, you can stay right here.”
Yuka called out in a hurry.
“Eh? Really?”
She slipped out of the frame—only to descend slowly onto the sofa a moment later.

The comments erupted once again at this impossible sight.

“Calm down, everyone! We still have an introduction to do!”
Yuka waved toward the camera to get their attention.

“…Um… I’m Shinobu…”

With her eyes lowered, she forced out her voice.

After watching that scene with a warm smile, Yuka spoke up.
“The two of them are ghosts.”
Yuka and Sayuri wore expressions that practically shouted How about that!—but the comments were overflowing with people questioning whether it was true.

“Deepfakes these days are incredible.”
“Didn’t she move kind of weird just now?”
“There’s no way a ghost would show up that clearly.”

Misaki, who was off-camera, narrowed her eyes as she watched the cheerful Sayuri.
Since Shinobu looked embarrassed, she decided to give her a bit of help once things settled down.
With that thought, she quietly lifted her sake to her lips.